Publication date: 
2022/06/27
Two PhD students from the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering have succeeded in this year's prestigious scientific award for young scientists in the field of nuclear physics. The first prize of the Henri Becquerel Prize, a scientific award issued by the French Embassy in the Czech Republic, this year went to Pavel Suk from the Department of Nuclear Reactors, while the third prize went to Marek Sommer from the Department of Dosimetry and Ionizing Radiation, who works at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Řež.

Pavel Suk is working on his PhD thesis in the field of reactor physics. His research focuses on nuclear data generation for full-zone calculations of nuclear power plants. He has successfully analyzed paths using deterministic and stochastic codes for large power reactors and small modular reactors (SMR). In 2019-2020, he used a seven-month fellowship while working at the University of Tennessee (USA) on the analysis of the SMR NuScale reactor system. In addition to his research activities, Pavel Suk lectures at CTU on reactor design and is the leader of practical exercises on the experimental VR-1 reactor. He is also involved in the popularization and education of nuclear energy in the Czech Republic through lectures at primary and secondary schools.

 

Marek Sommer focuses on ionizing radiation detection and high energy atmospheric physics. His PhD thesis focuses on the development of ionizing radiation detectors for airborne dosimetry and the detection of neutrons induced by storm activity. After rigorous testing, the first prototypes of the detectors have recently been flown on private aircraft or deployed at a high-altitude observatory. Marek Sommer has a broad spectrum of knowledge, as evidenced by his master's degree in radiological physics, his master's thesis describing protein damage by ionizing radiation and his PhD on a new ionizing radiation detector for aviation. He has presented his research at international conferences and in publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Photo, courtesy of: Eva Kořínková